This Is Bad
Investigators believe they have found a package of ricin at a Las Vegas motel. Seven people have been taken to the hospital.
LAS VEGAS — Preliminary tests indicate that a package found at a motel contained the toxin ricin, and seven people have been taken to hospitals, authorities said.
Police were called to the Extended Stay America Motel on Thursday and retrieved a package from the motel manager that was determined to be a chemical or controlled substance, Officer Ramone Denby said.
The man who brought the substance to the manager told police he found it in a suite and it did not belong to him, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Two preliminary tests indicate it contained ricin, Denby said. Results from further tests by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a second local lab are expected Friday, he said.
"Ricin has no medical uses other than cancer research," police Captain Joseph Lombardo said at a news conference Thursday night. "An individual citizen other than being involved in cancer research or cancer prevention would not have any legal means or proper means of having that."
Investigators did not immediately believe the substance was intended for an attack. "This is not a terror incident at this point," Lombardo said.
But if there is no legitimate reason for having a package of a very deadly substance, what other reasons for it being found there exist? Let's hope it is a false positive, otherwise, there is a problem.
By NortonPete, Friday, 29 February , 2008 @ 11:11 am
There is a problem. CNN is reporting that castor beans were also found. This was not a lost medical research item. The type of hotel makes it even more suspicious.
By Bleepless, Friday, 29 February , 2008 @ 1:26 pm
Ricin is what was used in the famous Bulgarian umbrella attacks.
By sam, Friday, 29 February , 2008 @ 2:33 pm
Scary stuff, indeed. I hope Dr. Grissom and his team are on this.